One Good Turn
by Abby Ebon
Summary: A sequel of sorts for "Battle Song". Vkandis Sunlord vowed to Kal'enel that their people, that of Karse and Kaled'a'in would be one once more. This is how the joining of White Gryphon, Karse, and Iftel came about...


**One Good Turn**

_Abby Ebon_

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_Note_; sequel to "Battle Song"; as the Sunlord Vkandis of Karse once promised

Kal'enel, Star Eyed of Tale'edras (of the Pelagirs) and Shin'a'in (of Dhorisha Plains) that their people would be joined once more it seems that promise is kept, for the k'Leshya of White Gryphon have reached out, even those of Iftel have made themselves known. But what of a small family-clan, all but forgotten within Valdemar's Three Rivers. This clan, called only "k'Shonar" held ties in Hardron, Shonar. When the Son of the Sun Lord, Solaris, goes to Hardorn, she meets the one woman who may join together White Gryphon and Iftel.

Disclaimer; I do not own any of the work associated with Mercedes Lackey.

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_That Which Haunts_

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'_He is going to kill me.' _It was not a thought, it was a fact. Impulse saved her; a Tedrel sent his sword where her navel had been only a moment ago, by twisting her hip in effort to arch up and get her own bit of steel into the mercenary she lived a moment longer – his sword was embedded into the earth. Too stuck by mud to be retrieved while she breathed, she was unsurprised when the man went for the knife at his belt. He only needed to gut her; she'd be dead before she saw Healer green.

Trapped on the ground, Thia k'Shonar cursed, helpless. This one was smart; he had cut her legs out from beneath her in his first move. She was left helpless, scrabbling in mud and her own blood in effort to preserve her life for a moment more. Pain was a memory, haunting her every movement, just out of reach while she struggled for life. It would catch up with her if she lived. Would reassure her she lived.

He smirked down at her, letting her know the sort of man he was. He took his time at going in for the kill. Her eyes flicked about her, desperate for a weapon or distraction. The mud clung at her, her quiver and arrows had dropped where she had been, a mark of her scout status, an archer, all but useless in hand to hand combat. She tried dragging herself backwards with hands and fingers slipping in mud.

It was the cursed mud saved her- in a move that was mostly accident, when he ducked down to stab at her; she flung it into his eyes as she flung her arm out to protect her neck and face. Instinct, all the same he hissed and spat like a cat, wiping at his eyes.

It gave her a spare moment, it was all she needed. She dampened her lips and put her teeth to her bottom lip sucking in air, it whistled, in the next moment she opened her mouth. It was a noise the city-born thought of as "kissy", regardless she repeated it twice more. All that was left was to wait.

The man blinked at her, a bit of mud smearing his lashes, his eyes were a stark blue. It was the last thing she noticed of him as her rescue let out a low growl that quivered her bones. Her smile was more then a little bloodthirsty when; the Tedrel man glanced into the tall golden hill grass.

Thia couldn't help but let her breath catch a little. It was a natural reaction. Bigger then most hounds, the furious silver eyes were waist height. Like moonlight they gleamed through the darkness, focused on the Tedrel man, the lips of its maw curled and feline teeth gleamed with deadly grace.

It was no wonder the big cat had not been seen until it was too late, in the shadows of the long grass, the dusky golden fur gleamed with health, and along sleek slides were strokes of black as night stripes. Head hanging low between muscular shoulder and forelegs, the only other warning the man had were the pointed ears flat against the angular skull of a born predator. Trembling, the man took a step back, hands rising in a primal instinct to defend him self only in that moment realizing his danger.

"Kill." She breathed the word, and knew it to be a death sentence the moment it passed her lips. Her feline did not spare her a glance, but acted upon the command none the less.

The next moments were a blur of senses, hearing the wind whisper the big cats movements, the thud of a body landing with more weight upon it then it ought to have, the sharp inhale of breath as good as a scream, the scrape of teeth against flesh, the scent of blood, the sound of bone being torn and broken, the rumbling purr of the big cat, pleased with itself.

She felt the big cat's fur against her cheek, opening her eyes to see the tuft of white spotted ruff of neck fur that extended along its underbelly. Her feline had lain down beside her, face to face, so she could crawl and pull herself onto its back. Patiently it waited, even as she grunted and heaved herself up along the sleek fur of the feline, it did not so much as twitch its tail.

Tired to the marrow of her bones, Thia's breath rattled in and out of her chest as she put effort to will and patted its meaty shoulder twice. As it had been taught to, it slowly stood from belly down to a crouch, alert in its own way it walked into the tall grass. Thia's only regret was leaving her bow, quiver, and arrows behind on grounds the Tedrel had claimed.

She woke in a Healers tent, the color of green found only in the deep woods and upon neutral Healer tents.

"Awake? Good. You're needed to hold the pass. Ancar of Hardorn and his dead corpses have broken through the ranks." It was a different battle, a different time. When she came out of the tent (Guard's blue, not Healer green) a farm the she still had nightmares about stood beside her tent, she looked out at the endless waste land.

The dry and brittle-brown crops, the leafless trees, and general feel of wrongness about the place. It was as if someone had sucked the life out of everything, which was so close it still gave her nightmares. That she knew this to be a dream now did not change her fear that in some way draining the life of the land drained her life as well.

She "kissed" the air three times, and faithfully the feline appeared, rubbing its head against her hand. Such large cats had lived with her family since their beginnings. A special breed, they had kept the secret of breeding to themselves, until it too was lost in time, and they only reaped the benefits of the breeding.

If the cats had one flaw, it was also their greatest strength, to keep themselves alive; at the slightest hint of strangers, they hid themselves, and if that failed, well, no one had ever seen one and lived, save a member of the her own family.

Thia had bonded with this one in her eleventh year. It was a lifelong bond, for this feline would likely outlive her. More oft then not, if their chosen died, the big cats hid themselves away, dying slowly of heartache.

This one, hers, was known as Shy.

Even as Thia had traveled and fought beside the Guard, none had ever seen the giant cat. It had taken her awhile to get Shy to attack only certain "strange" people, luckily none could identify _what_ had harmed them, and naturally had thought it the enemy. The enemies of Valdemar dressed the same in cat's eyes but it could be done, as the k'Shonar had fought beside Valdemar since journeying into these lands from Hardorn in her grandmothers time; more oft then not the cats had fought, hidden, beside the k'Shonar family.

Shy was not the only one. A low rumbled purr, almost a growl, came from the sparse underbrush of a grove of trees. Shy was gold and black striped with her spotted white belly, this one, called Night was all black and white coat and his faint belly spots were dusty brown. He was Shy's sister, and his keeper was Urufi.

Brother by blood of their mother, Thia only nodded a greeting when he emerged from the grove shadows, knowing he delighted in startling others with his unexpected appearance. Both of them had the lush dark hair of their mother and her liquid brown eyes. Their skin was deep bronze save where the sun caressed and lightened to copper. They could have been twins, for standing side by side the age difference of a handful of years was not apparent. They were wiry muscle and slender framed. Few lived long enough to call them petite. Those who knew them best knew better then to say as much.

"Sister, are you going on the hunt?" Urufi murmured his voice pitched low though hoarse. The rasp of his voice, its echo, had been the result of a childhood accident. He would have lost speech all together, if not for a passing Healer. Urufi was a assassin, he did not need his voice, and seemed to pride himself at that fact.

"Yes." Thia had always been told her tones were too musical, so she, like her elder brother, spoke rarely. Some in the family had whispered that this was because by being born, she had killed her mother. Thia had been too young to know such a thing, and Urufi had never held her cruel birth against her, for he had been protector and playmate since she had been old enough to toddle after him.

"If that is so, cousin, I will go with you." Cakson surprised her, though she ought to have suspected he would be near. Assassins were trained in pairs, and the family tie between her brother and Cakson, son of their mothers elder sister, had made them nearly inseparable. They were alike two halves of the same person, neither complete without the other. Some whispered they were soul-twins, or lovers. Thia had never thought so, even as children the three of them had been close.

Hushed as the wind, Silence, walked from the shadowed shrubbery butting heads with Night before nodding regally to Shy. The felines, as all k'Shonar found, had a language all their own.

"It is not needed; Lai will be along the border with me." Her half brother, on her father's side, had power such that he had had to leave Valdemar to train his gifts. It was a rare thing among their family, but not unheard of, some of the elders of k'Shonar whispered that was why a feline had never chosen him.

"All the same, sister, we wish you would have someone other then Jaki and Jaimi to guard your back." Thia could not help but smile as her uncles on her father's side were mentioned. A pair of twins, and had never parted from one another in their lives. It was said that was why they did not have felines, they had each other, and that was enough of a handful for clan k'Shonar.

"They protect Lai, I have Shy." It was true enough, but it did not please either her cousin or her brother to hear her say so. Without a glance between each other, Cakson spoke what she knew Urufi would concur with.

"We will protect you, as they protect Lai." Urufi's lips quirked at Cakson, amused.

"One can never have too many k'Shonar eyes." Urufi quoted, somehow managing to mimic Cakson's mother, who had practically raised the three of them. Though Thia did not know why, she laughed, and agreed to accompany them if they were skittish of the night creatures. They played at that 'fear', remembering childhood times, when they had lived on the homeland farm.

That night proved to be one which Thia would never forget.

It seemed a scream, primal, nearly so much so that it seemed animal, not human, stirred and quickened the night. Thia remembered running with Urufi and Cakson at her side, their felines speeding along ahead of them. There had been no words spoken, though there had not needed to be any words between them.

Out of breath, Thia stumbled into the clearing, eyes frantically searching for the source of that scream. It was Lai. He stumbled past the fire poll that marked the boundary into dangerous grounds. His dark hair was damp with sweat, his skin pale, he looked like melting wax. Cakson was beside him, arm out stretched to touch his shoulder, but a hiss from Urufi warned him away.

"You are safe, Lai. It is Cakson, Urufi, and Thia with you. What do you see?" Urufi asked Lai, though in that moment Thia had thought she was being questioned.

"Death, Jaki and Jaimi…" There was something like a whine, a whimper, in Lai's words. Thia was reminded, by his hazed eyes, that he had something the Heralds called "FarSight"those who had discovered this Gift had been curious of why Lai had not been Chosen. Some had proposed a journey to the Companion Fields, but Lai had refused. Thia knew then that Jaki and Jaimi had been taken by the enemy, and Lai had Looked for them, and, apparently found them.

"Can you bring them here?" Cakson asked with a glance to Urufi, it was true that FarSight among the Heralds was often linked to Fetching, but even they knew a Herald would be unlikely to retrieve only one person who was not within their normal sight, two was almost a impossibility, but Jaki and Jaimi were family and they could not image one without the other, they knew Lai would do what he could to save both.

"I...I will try." Tears and sweat glimmered in the darkness as they fell from Lai's unfocused gaze. His fists clenched and he bit his lip, shivering. There were no mystical words, merely Cakson's hand on his shoulder, and Urufi's fingers tangled with Thia's own. No one spoke or breathed in the moment the twins appeared before them. Lai fell to his knees beside them, reaching out to touch them as if seeking to be reassured that they were real and alive, bloodied as they were, they knew the moment they were safely away from the enemy and among family.

"Thank the God, Lai, didn't know you could do something like that…" Jaki murmured, her looked wrist twisted at an odd angle, and her arm as if it had mangled from the shoulder down. Her chest heaved as she panted for breath, closing her eyes as she relaxed. Her hair was black in the night, though Thia knew it to be bloody red by day. Lai hesitantly touched her on the cheek, as if he was unsure if she were truly real, though when she spoke the relief in his eyes was obvious, and he kissed her forehead before turning to Jaimi. He too was real as he spoke the moment Lai touched his uninjured hand. From the knees down, Jaimi's legs had been shredded, likely by the same as what had harmed his twin.

"There's our hero..." Jaimi's voice was obviously weak, and he nodded his head to Cakson and Urufi, winking at Thia.

"I…I can't heal this." Lai murmured his eyes focused now on the twins wounds. Unsteadily, he stood, turning toward the camp something of defiance and determination shining his eyes.

"Neither can they, I'll have to try something I leaned in Rethwellan…" None of the k'Shonar had been quite sure what else Lai had learned besides controlling his magic and Gifts, so with weary glances between each other, Cakson touched Lai's shoulder once more and nodded their accent.

"We trust you not to scatter us among the four winds, Lai." Urufi rumbled as he bandaged Jaimi's legs. With the blood loss, they looked even paler. Thia prayed he would not lose the use of them. It was enough that Lai let out a choked laugh.

"We are doomed here; if we stay in Valdemar we will die…I do not want to see the last of the k'Shonar die fighting in this senseless war…" They went silent, unsure, when Lai finished speaking. He seemed to notice this, and did not meet their eyes when he spoke next.

"When I left Valdemar, I found something out, in Rethwellan there are is a Pelagirs Forest, just as strange as the Pelagir Hills of Valdemar. They too have the Hawkbrothers, the people called Tayledras. Only I think I know what they do, they cleanse the Pelagir, getting rid of the magically warped creatures and draining off the wild magic. It makes sense. In the Dhorisha Plains are the Shin'a'in, I stayed among the Tale'sedrin of the Shin'a'in, there is a connection between those two peoples, I know it…" Lai spoke quickly as they worked to bandage and cleanse the wounds Jaki and Jaimi had sustained.

"That's all very interesting but what does that have to do with us?" Cakson asked, glancing at Lai with wary eyes. It would not take long for Jaki and Jaimi to bleed out. They did not have time for what might have been and guesses.

"Among the Tale'sedrin they called the Tayledras, k'Varda, does the name not sound like our own k'Shonar? What if our family came from the Hawkbrothers of the Pelagirs Hills?" Lai asked of them, seemingly desperate for them to see the connection. Thia swallowed, not looking Lai in the eyes as she choked on Jaki's blood and tried not to wonder if Lai had been struck by madness in his desperation to save the twins, it could have broken something within his own mind and they would never know it.

"I can take us there. It's called a Gate, I can use it to get us to help." Lai whispered his plan, his hands trembling a little, flecks of the twins blood caught the eye upon his pale skin. Thia tried hard to tell herself it was not an ill omen.

"And you think to take us to these Dhorisha Plains and ask this of the Hawkbrothers? So what if we are related, how would it help us now? Take us to the Healers Collegium in Haven." Cakson's voice was firm, though not unkind. Lai shook his head, bits of silver glinting in his blond hair.

"I…I can't. I won't send us to our deaths." Lai whispered the words but all of them heard them, there was fear in Jaki's eyes as they saw Lai gather his power. They dared not move or speak, for they knew the danger they were in if they interrupted a working of magic.

Thia heard something then, much like a ripping of leather, she looked up to see a shimmering tear in the air before her. It danced lazily, like an illusion in the heat. Bits of sunlight glimmered through the tear, though the sun had set hours ago. Thia felt her heart lurch as the tear widened to the size of a door.

"Go through." Lai demanded of them, in the distance they heard the clang and rustle of weapons, knowing that Jaki and Jaimi had been discovered missing, and now Ancar and his undead Hardorn men were on the warpath to find the twins. Left with little choice, for if they stayed they would die before reaching the camp, Cakson struggled upward with Jaki and Urufi with Jaimi, their felines Silence and Night following behind them. Shy took a step closer, though she paused when she sensed Thia was not following.

"Go, Thia, I can't hold the Gate forever." Lai begged as he moved toward the Gate, and Thia.

"I won't. I can't leave. I'm sorry." Thia shook her head, knowing this was the only way to save Lai didn't make it easier for her. She gripped Lai on a shoulder and hip, and while she was slender and strong Lai had been tall and gawky, it was not hard for her to shove him through the Gate. Though it tore at her heart to hear them cry out for her when something like lightning rushed down to the ground, sowing the tear of a Gate that Lai had created. A breeze lifted her hair as she glanced to the oncoming army.

Thia stood alone with Shy in the face of an oncoming army that would not stop and did not seem to feel pain. Shy let out a roar Thia knew they would hear in the camp. Though she thought she might die before they reached her. With Shy beside her, she knew she stood a chance.

Movement became a blur, survival the goal in a kill or be killed battle. She did not know when they stopped, only that someone held her down as she arched and used teeth and hands as a weapon. Her eyes met golden brown, and a command of "sleep" washed through her mind to calm her. She wondered, in her last thought, where Shy had gone.

Thia woke later in the day to those same golden brown eyes watching her in Healer green robes. The woman stirred, patting her hand reassuringly.

"It is over child, Herald-Mage Princes Elspeth and her Hawkbrother lover Darkwind killed Ancar, good riddance to the filth. You are safe." The woman's voice reassured, if she had been a Bard, it would not have surprised Thia her voice was the melody of a mother soothing its babe in a thunderstorm.

"My family?" Thia croaked the question, wondering if Lai had changed his mind last minute and brought them to the Healers Collegium in Haven as Cakson had wanted. Golden brown eyes showed pain, and Thia swallowed past her fear to hear the words that would be spoken.

"Oh, child…Three Rivers had its circuit Herald report that it was hit hard by plague this winter. I am sorry, but you are the only k'Shonar we found on the battlefield. You are the last of your kin." Thia shut her eyes, her heart torn she could feel it bleeding out, screaming. It could not be true. Lai had said as much, but she had thought he meant only their generation that fought, not the whole of the k'Shonar.

She could not be the last, there was the hope that Cakson or Urufi, or both, could have survived – or Lai, or the twins with the travel by Gate. The memory of the lightning that had cut through the Gate haunted her, but she pushed it away. There was the faint hope that k'Shonar relations lived in the Hardorn settlement of their namesake. Or the Hawkbrothers and the Shin'a'in, despite that, it hurt her. They might be blood related, distantly, but those relations would never fill the wound that ached within her heart. Seeing her dismay, the golden eyed woman in Healer greens left her, shoulders slumped, as if she had just lost her own best friend. Thia could not bring herself to care.

Shy let out a rumbling purr, having tucked underneath the bed. Thia petted the big cats tuft of spotted neck fur, needing the reassurance offered having waked to the very reality of being alone, the last of the k'Shonar.

Thia, for some reason she never understood later, found herself glancing to the ground window of the Healers Collegium. It didn't seem surprising that she saw a Companion, they called Haven home, though she felt calmed when its blue eyes seemed to wink at her, before it left the view of the window.

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_Note_; I've looked the story over and found myself feeling oddly familiar with it, so even though this was created first – before _Battle Song _got its wings, I decided to let this shadow my _Battle Song_. Many things will likely come to question, including the distances traveled, but a point of fact that I want to make clear; Thia will be _involved_ with Tashiketh Pral Skylshaen. That is the Iftel gryphon; blame the fact that I found the idea of Amberdrake and Zhaneel not only amusing but intriguing, as with the lifebond of Lavan and Kalira. I can't tell you things won't get "physical", even if it is only a bonding of spirit and soul.

None the less, that is who Thia is meant for; if you are uncomfortable with such a thing, go back now.


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